Custom installation server

[HighDarkTemplar]

Hi!

I'm about to set up a windows server, and one of the bigger roles is updating the computer on a new install. What bigger updates would be necessary? I'll have xp, vista, windows 7, 2003 and 2008 running on my network. My first packs will be .net, powershell and service packs. Now, my questions:

1. Which .NET framework redistributable packages do I need to cover everything? Are all necessary on the servers?

2. The "Windows Management Framework Core package (Windows PowerShell 2.0 and WinRM 2.0)" package, does it need BITS installed beforehand and which versions works on xp and 2003?

3. How do I determine if the computer has the package installed already?

4. Any server compatibility issues that I should be aware of? Ex: 2003 won't communicate with one of the other Windows OSes?

5. Is there more that is necessary to have on the setup server?

Thanks for your time!

-HighDarkTemplar

[CoffeeFiend]

I'm about to set up a windows server, and one of the bigger roles is updating the computer on a new install

You mean using the server to update clients (desktops/laptops)? If so, just use WSUS. It'll feed the updates to all your clients.

[HighDarkTemplar]

I'm about to set up a windows server, and one of the bigger roles is updating the computer on a new install

You mean using the server to update clients (desktops/laptops)? If so, just use WSUS. It'll feed the updates to all your clients.

WSUS won't solve it for other software, but it's a start. And what is that "CAL" license? I had a quick google search but I didn't get any wiser...

[CoffeeFiend]

[WSUS won't solve it for other software, but it's a start

I know. But it will fully patch all your operating systems -- a great start for sure. Keeping all apps fully updated would just about be a full time job anyway (and they all use different installers, different ways to patch, different patch cycles/schedules, different methods of announcing & obtaining updates and so on)

And what is that "CAL" license?

A CAL is a Client Access License. Your clients (users *or* devices) need a CAL each.

[HighDarkTemplar]

[WSUS won't solve it for other software, but it's a start

I know. But it will fully patch all your operating systems -- a great start for sure. Keeping all apps fully updated would just about be a full time job anyway (and they all use different installers, different ways to patch, different patch cycles/schedules, different methods of announcing & obtaining updates and so on)

Which is exactly the thing I'm looking for, I think. I thought that ensuring that making sure powershell was installed (since it has much more power than the standard batch script) and have the server send the script to the client and then run it would be the way to do it. Would it work? And how about machines currently not registered in the domain?

And what is that "CAL" license?

A CAL is a Client Access License. Your clients (users *or* devices) need a CAL each.

Could you please expand on that?

Also, could you specifically answer some of the initial questions (1 and 2)?

And thanks for your help so far, I really appreciate it!

[CoffeeFiend]

I thought that ensuring that making sure powershell was installed (since it has much more power than the standard batch script) and have the server send the script to the client and then run it would be the way to do it

There's no need to do any of that. Using WSUS, your computers will fetch updates from your server instead of Microsoft's site (so you only download them once, then clients can all get them at full LAN speed w/o using your internet connection). WSUS will also download the updates for all the [supported] SP levels of all the OS'es for you (no need to manually create update lists, download them, modify scripts and all that extremely time consuming stuff)

Would it work?

I don't really see how powershell would help for this in particular. If anything, I'd probably use vbscript for this (that's if I was going down that "manual patch installation route", which I see as a ultimate last resort). WSUS is one of those "set and forget" things. Set it up once, and for the most part all your boxes (new and old) will get updated without having to do anything.

And how about machines currently not registered in the domain?

I never tried. There might be ways to set that up but I've never looked. Google may have the answer.

Could you please expand on that?

Well, I'm not sure what else you want to know. Your best bet would be reading the official licensing infos.

Also, could you specifically answer some of the initial questions (1 and 2)?

I hadn't answered because I couldn't totally make sense of the questions.

1. Which .NET framework redistributable packages do I need to cover everything? Are all necessary on the servers?

To cover what? And how could we guess if you need it on your servers? We can't really answer that.

2. The "Windows Management Framework Core package (Windows PowerShell 2.0 and WinRM 2.0)" package, does it need BITS installed beforehand and which versions works on xp and 2003?

No idea. Why would you not have BITS in the first place? As for version/OS support, PowerShell 2 supports XP/2003 and everything newer.

[HighDarkTemplar]

Thanks for that official licensing info link, it answered my questions :-)

2. The "Windows Management Framework Core package (Windows PowerShell 2.0 and WinRM 2.0)" package, does it need BITS installed beforehand and which versions works on xp and 2003?

Thinking about it now, it's a **** sloppy way to ask. Does it need an UPDATED version of BITS, and if yes, is 3.0 the last BITS release working on xp/2003 or does 4.0 also work on xp/2003?

Scripting: I don't know VBscript at all, but I got a little powershell experience so I'm going for that one. I'll keep VBscript in mind as a last resort though

The reason that I want to script the updates, or rather a handful of them is so I can push them quickly on a new machine install and saving time waiting for WSUS to install each minor update, one at a time. Btw, I'm the type who love doing things the complicated way.

Thanks again, CoffeeFiend!